Fox Sports targets role in Ecuadorian football rights tender

The Fox Sports Argentina division of international sports broadcaster Fox Sports has stated its interest in bidding for rights to the top two divisions of Ecuadorian football after claiming it was initially left out of the tender process opened by the Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF).

Fox Sports Argentina has expressed its interest in a letter sent to the FEF, which has been widely reported in the Ecuadorian media.

The letter is addressed to Álex de la Torre , vice-president of the FEF, and is signed by Francisco Pazmiño, senior vice-president of acquisitions and strategic programming for Fox Sports Latin America.

The letter read: “We have been informed by the press that the Ecuadorian Football Federation recently opened a competition with the objective of licensing the television rights of the Ecuadorian championship from 2018, and that several international television networks and agencies have been invited to participate.

“We do not know the reasons why we were not invited to participate in that contest. Notwithstanding this, we would like to express our interest and willingness to know the terms and the conditions… so as to have the opportunity to participate in this process.”

Earlier this month, the FEF moved to play down reports that the Tenfield agency had agreed a deal for the rights, stating that a number of parties are currently in talks. The FEF is currently marketing the rights to Serie A and Serie B, with the existing contracts due to expire at the end of 2017.

Ecuadorian state broadcaster TC Televisión, commercial broadcaster GamaTV and public-service broadcaster Ecuador TV in November 2012 agreed deals to acquire rights for Serie A and Serie B.

The deals with the FEF run for five years, from 2013 to 2017.